6542 —עזיבת משרת הרבנות כבריחה מן המערכה, ושלילת שיטת "אני את נפשי הצלתי"

B"H, 7th of Marcheshvan, 5719

Brooklyn.

Shalom u'Vrachah!

In reply to your letter with its enclosure, in which you write that you left your synagogue before the summer, etc.

Apparently, you mean that you left the rabbinate altogether. This is surprising, especially since you have been in the United States for several years, and, judging by the printed articles you enclosed with your letter, you have taken an interest in the state of Judaism here and in suggestions for improving it. In light of this, the step mentioned, ceasing to serve in a rabbinic post, is altogether incomprehensible. Do you really intend thereby to bring correction and improvement to Jewish values here in the United States?! And especially if what you say about your qualifications is correct, where you write about your organizational ability, etc., for this only increases your capabilities, and in turn increases the wrongness of withdrawing from the battlefield; it would be more correct to say, fleeing from the battlefield.

As for what you write (apparently by way of explaining your step), that in your post you had to submit to the lay leaders, etc., obviously this too is not a sufficient reason at all. For since ultimately there must come a change in the attitude of the lay leaders toward their rabbis, the change cannot possibly come through those who do not mind submitting to the lay leaders, but only through those who will fight against it. It is a very remote hope that the lay leaders themselves will fight against their own dominance over the rabbis; the movement must come specifically from the rabbis. And the approach of אני את נפשי הצלתי "I have saved my own soul" (Yechezkel 3:19) has long been rejected by the great Torah leaders, and especially by the great Chassidim.

This is also the theme of the day, the weekly portion we read, Parshas Noach, as the holy Zohar explains the puzzling fact that the waters of the Flood are called מי נח "the waters of Noach" (Yeshayahu 54:9), even though he was צדיק תמים "righteous and perfect" in his generation (Bereishis 6:9). The reason for this (Zohar I, 67b): "Since the Holy One, blessed be He, told him that He would save him and his sons, he did not pray for mercy for the world, and they perished; and for this reason the waters of the Flood are called by his name." That is to say, even when one hears an explicit command from the Creator and Ruler of the world (as it is written there, ובאת אל התבה "and you shall come into the ark" (Bereishis 6:18), ומחיתי את כל היקום "and I will wipe out all existence" (Bereishis 7:4)), this does not at all exempt a person from rejecting the attitude of "I have saved my own soul." And if this was so before the Giving of the Torah, how much more so after the Torah was given, in which ואהבת לרעך כמוך "Love your fellow as yourself" (Vayikra 19:18) is a great principle, and especially after the mutual guarantee undertaken at the Plains of Moav (Sotah 37b), that כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה "all Jews are guarantors for one another" (Shevuos 39a); and this is easy to understand.

It is understood that one can work to improve Judaism even as a person who does not hold a rabbinic post, and one can even do greater work still; but unfortunately, observing those rabbis who left their posts, for whatever reason, they did not take up endeavors requiring self-sacrifice, etc. And this is easy to understand.

As for what you write about entering commerce and business if a suitable offer comes along,

in general, in such matters one makes efforts in the manner of חברא חברא אית ליה "your friend has a friend" (Bava Basra 39a); that is to say, one speaks with friends and relatives about one's aim, etc., and asks them to inquire among their own friends, and surely you are doing so as well. And of course, if I learn of a suitable offer I will let you know, or let the one offering it know of your aim; and what I wrote at the beginning of my letter has no bearing on this, of course.

I take this opportunity to urge you regarding fixed times for studying Chassidus, which, especially in our times, is a necessity, in addition to its being included in the general obligation of Torah study, which applies to all parts of the Torah, of course. See on this, words that hew out flames of fire (cf. Tehillim 29:7), in the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, Laws of Torah Study, ch. 2, sec. 10 (Hilchos Talmud Torah 2:10), regarding fulfilling the Torah commandment שמר תשמרון את כל המצוה "you shall diligently keep all the commandment" (Devarim 11:22), founded on the words of the early authorities, who were like angels (cf. Shabbos 112b), the Sefer Mitzvos Gadol, etc., as is also explained in the preceding sections there.

With blessing for a good livelihood suited to your talents and to fulfilling your mission among the Jewish people, as the Mishnah says, אני נבראתי לשמש את קוני "I was created to serve my Maker" (Kiddushin 82a).

And with blessing for good news in all of the above.

Summary

This letter tells a rabbi who left his pulpit that a capable leader may not flee the battlefield: improvement must come from rabbis who stand up to lay control, and Noach shows that saving oneself while others are lost is no answer. It urges fixed study of Chassidus and blesses him with a fitting livelihood.